Reasons Why Carrie Underwood Handpicked Runaway June

The gist of Runaway June’s lead single “Buy My Own Drinks” is that they are independent women, thankyouverymuch.

As in, I can buy my own drinks, I can pay my own tab, and at the end of the night when they cut on all the lights, I can call my own cab, and so on.

When Underwood detailed her 2019 Cry Pretty Tour 360, she announced that Runaway June and Maddie & Tae would be on the road with her from May through October. Then in a recent Women Want to Hear Women podcast, Underwood said that having an all-female bill is something that all of these artists have earned. “I’m not throwing anybody a bone by taking them out on tour with me. They deserve to be there and they’re gonna put on a really great show, and I’m already proud of all that they’ve done. I’m a fan, you know? And I feel like the more we do of (supporting women) and the more normal it is, why would I not want to take women out on the road with me? Why would anybody feel like ’Oh, well I’m a girl, so I better have a guy’?”

I mean, right?

And here’s what Runaway June — made up of Naomi Cooke, Hannah Mulholland and Jennifer Wayne — told CMT.com about getting that invitation from Underwood.

“She hand-picked the acts on her tour, so it’s incredibly humbling that she wanted to add us to the bill,” Wayne told us. “Our manager was the one who told us the news, and we are still coming down from it! She’s legendary and there’s nobody who puts on a show like Carrie.” Added bonus: the trio has been friends with Maddie & Tae for years. “They are extremely talented. Their entire debut record is great, and we can’t wait to see some of the new stuff they are working on,” Cooke said.

Cooke, Mulholland and Wayne been hard at work all summer, putting the finishing touches on their self-titled debut EP and promoting “Buy My Own Drinks” at country radio. Their hope with the song, they said, is that it will inspire everybody to be strong and independent and to take care of themselves and have fun while doing it (And go ahead and compare their sound, their style and their lyrics to those of the Dixie Chicks. The band is more than OK with that.).